Missione compiuta stop. Bacioni Matt Helm

Dino was 51 and smooching ridiculously hot actresses half his age when he did The Wrecking Crew, one of the all-time cringeworthy films but still fun. A fifth Helm was planned but Martin bowed out. The entire total-escapist series was written, produced and directed by a team that owed its sensibilities and point of view to the men's magazines of the late 50s and 60s and took very little from Hamilton's novels. It made fantasy logic that his cover was a glamour magazine photographer pursued at first sight by gorgeous models. I saw them all at the movies and dreaded the moments when Dean would croon a tune. The supporting players were always great pros and the actresses were all fantasy women. In this final entry, James Gregory (Matt's boss McDonald) is replaced by John Larch and while Larch was a fine actor, Gregory's rich baritone is missed. Someone must have watched Deadlier Than The Male, a much better film than any of the Helm movies, because Elke Sommer and Nigel Green, the lethal duo from Deadlier, essentially reprise their roles. The opening theme song ("Ah So, Ah So") was embarrassing 50 years ago. Otherwise, Montenegro's music was memorable at times. The production values are top-notch, for the most part. The hand-to-hand fight scenes were poorly choreographed, performed, shot and edited even though the great Bruce Lee was involved. The only sad note about this film is the fate of lovely Sharon Tate who has a substantial role, exploited this year by Tarantino in his uber-fantasy Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Fluffy day glo spy spoof for those who don't take their action/adventure too seriously. Dean Martin plays the part of Matt Helm with his typical laid back swagger which is just right for the featherweight material. Not as reliant on gadgetry as the 007 series, probably due to budgetary restraints, this still has some cool set pieces and that swingin' 60's atmosphere. It also has that same 60's sensibility to it's female characters namely viewing them as sex objects and little else, if you're willing to take that into consideration before viewing this is a pleasant way to pass a little time.

Aside from Dean the cast is full of beautiful women. Two of those knockouts, Tina Louise, fresh from Gilligan's Island, is in and out of the film in under ten minutes, and Nancy Kwan's part doesn't require much more than her looking great in psychedelic dresses and doing karate chops.

It's the other two ladies who make an impact despite the script's rather weak efforts to provide them with anything to work with. Elke Sommer, phenomenally beautiful, manages to be silkily devilish in one stunning outfit after another. The real standout is Sharon Tate as the klutzy but endearing Freya Carlson. This was the tragic beauty's penultimate role before her murder and coupled with her amusing performance in the previous year's Don't Make Waves it shows that she had a very real talent for comedy add into that her lovely looks and she could have had a solid career ahead of her as a glamorous comedienne.

Of the four films in the Matt Helm series the first The Silencers is probably the best but this one is a close second.

Too bad Dean Martin gave up on Matt Helm just as James Bond was in chaos in the wake of Sean Connery's departure... In 1969, the new Bond was an unknown and only had one true lady with "man appeal" on his side; Emma Peel herself, Miss Diana Rigg! Helm had all kinds of chicks, especially the sublime Miss Sharon Tate... On that advantage alone, Matt Helm could have overtaken James Bond's spot! Alas such a feat had to be accomplished by a total parody such as Powers many years later... Mind-boggling too when one considers the fact that Powers never had anyone even remotely close to the elegance of a Rigg or Tate next to his ridiculous frame...!

Matt Helm though -just as James Coburn's Our Man Flint series- was a far more subtle parody of the Bond myth... Thus worthier of eclipsing it than the ridiculous farce that Austin Powers and his mojo are! History tells us though that both Helm and Flint failed... and Powers is the one to finally outsell at the box-office the once-invincible Bond...

In this one, Matt Helm's antagonist is Count Contini, a gold smuggler, played by Nigel Green. He is aided by his gang of thugs and two female sidekicks, Linka (Elke Sommer) and Gwen Ya-Rang (Nancy Kwan). As might be expected, both try to seduce Matt, offering fake carrots. Interestingly for a Matt Helm movie, however, Linka is a rare woman in Matt's orbit who is the recipient, rather than initiator, of the first display of interest. Earlier, there is a nice scene in which Lola Medini (Tina Louise), a former associate of Contina, seduces Matt in connection with the intrigue.

Ultimately, it is Freya Carlson (Sharon Tate) who gets her man. She is a Danish tourist agent who leads Matt around in fulfilling his duties. Like Stella Stevens in "The Silencers," she is initially quite clumsy, and is involved in a nice wetlook scene (actually, so is Linka). Freya helps Matt foil the villains.

I'm focusing mostly on the women here, but hey, you can hardly beat this bunch in this male fantasy series. The only Bond movie that can rival this group is "Thunderball."

The movie is fantastic in its execution, not its substance, but it was never intended to be serious.

The movie has all the glamor, and opulence that only American movies seems to be able to deliver. The choice of color, the character, and of course the girls.

Dean Martin's Matt Helm was a product of the swinging '60s, and it's a beautiful movie in its own way. I wish that the modern movies had more of this kind of opulence to its style. Why not live a little like the way these people did ?

It's intentionally silly, but if you take away the silly it still has the glamor like nothing you see these days. The movie is worth seeing for this alone.

Elke Sommer, and Sharon Tate were beautiful, and we don't see beauties like this anymore either.